Every card in Modern texts, Year 11: the Russian Revolution retold, irony, allegory and plain style (Animal Farm option)
The whole deck, in order — so you can read it through before your child ever sees it.
- Which revolution does the animals' rebellion stand for?
The Russian Revolution of 1917
HintA rising against an emperor, early in the twentieth century.
WhyOrwell's tale follows the run-up to the 1917 revolution and then the Stalin years. The farm is a small version of the Soviet Union.
- Which Russian ruler does Mr Jones stand for?
Tsar Nicholas II
HintA ruler forced to give up his throne in 1917.
WhyLike Jones, the Tsar was overthrown: he was forced to give up his throne in 1917. He and his family were later executed by the Bolsheviks.
- Old Major sets out the principles of the revolution. Which two real figures is he said to combine?
Karl Marx and Lenin
HintA thinker and a leader of the revolution.
WhyHis skull is put on public view, as Lenin's body was left on display. Orwell uses him to show how revolutions begin in noble ideas.
- In which year was Animal Farm first published? (year, four digits)
1945
HintIn the same year as the end of the Second World War.
WhyPublishers refused it at first, as Britain was then allied to the Soviet Union. It sold very well once it came out, as relations moved towards the Cold War.
- Why did several publishers refuse Animal Farm at first?
Britain was allied with the Soviet Union in the war, and a book attacking Stalin seemed unwise
HintPolitics, not quality, was the problem.
WhyPublishers feared offending an ally. When the alliance turned into the Cold War, the book became a great success.
- In Animal Farm the characters and events stand for real people and historical events. What is this device called? (one word)
allegory
HintA story with a second meaning running underneath.
WhyNapoleon stands for Stalin, Snowball for Trotsky, and so on. Orwell said the book was meant to apply more widely than to Russia alone.
- What does the word satire mean, as applied to Animal Farm?
Making fun of something, with humour and exaggeration, in order to criticise it
HintThe tone may be light, but the purpose is not.
WhyOrwell described the book as a satire aimed at Stalin. The pigs' behaviour is funny at first, then disturbing.
- How does Orwell show who is honest and who is not in the way they talk?
The good animals speak plainly; Napoleon and the pigs twist language to suit their own wishes
HintSpeech is a clue to character.
WhyThe contrast makes the point that words can be used to deceive. Orwell's own style is plain on principle.
- What irony is there in the animals' final view of the pigs and the men?
They rebelled against humans, but cannot now tell the new rulers from the old
HintOne master has been swapped for another.
WhyThe revolution has led to the thing it was meant to remove. The irony is the main force of the final scene.
- Why is it ironic that the pigs' rules begin with equality?
The rule of equality is the first to be betrayed by the group that wrote it
HintThink about who made the rules and who benefits.
WhyThe pigs do not abolish the rule, they change it so that it excuses privilege. The irony is that equality is used to justify inequality.
1★ GCSE-ENLI-MOD-0160
2★ GCSE-ENLI-MOD-0161
3★ GCSE-ENLI-MOD-0162
4★ GCSE-ENLI-MOD-0163
5★ GCSE-ENLI-MOD-0164
6★ GCSE-ENLI-MOD-0165
7★ GCSE-ENLI-MOD-0166
8★ GCSE-ENLI-MOD-0167
9★ GCSE-ENLI-MOD-0168
10★ GCSE-ENLI-MOD-0169
Keep what you learn
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